$2.39 Million Verdict for Woman Struck at Poorly Signed Country Club Exit

On November 13, 1997, Cynthia Cowee pulled out of a private roadway serving the Wilmington Country Club and entered the intersection with Delaware Route 52, known locally as Kennett Pike. A northbound truck traveling at approximately 50 miles per hour struck her vehicle. The collision caused severe personal injuries.

The central question at trial was whether the Country Club bore responsibility for the crash. Robert Pasquale of Doroshow, Pasquale, Krawitz, Siegal and Bhaya argued that the club had failed to adequately sign or control the exit from its private driveway onto the busy state highway, creating a dangerous condition for drivers attempting to enter Route 52 traffic.

On January 16, 1998, the New Castle County Superior Court jury found the Wilmington Country Club negligent and found that negligence to be a proximate cause of the accident. The jury also found Mrs. Cowee negligent, but determined her negligence was not a proximate cause of the crash. The jury awarded $2.39 million to Mrs. Cowee and $115,000 to her husband Brian Cowee for loss of consortium.

The Country Club moved for a new trial on the contributory negligence issue. The trial court granted that motion, and a second jury, on December 16, 1998, again found Mrs. Cowee had not been contributorily negligent in a manner that proximately caused the accident.

The Country Club appealed. On January 21, 2000, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the liability findings but reversed the trial court's decision to grant a second trial, holding that the court had erred in ordering that retrial. The Supreme Court reinstated the original first-trial verdict and directed that post-judgment interest accrue from the date of the first verdict in January 1998.